| Burlington, Vermont Plattsburgh, New York Montreal, Quebec |
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|---|---|
| City of license | Burlington |
| Branding | ABC 22 (general) ABC 22 Local News |
| Slogan | Start Here |
| Channels | Digital: 13 (VHF) Virtual: 22 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 22.1 ABC (HD) 22.2 ABC (SD) |
| Translators | 9 W09BB Schroon Lake, NY |
| Owner | Lambert Broadcasting, LLC (operated through LMA by Smith Media, LLC) (Lambert Broadcasting of Burlington, LLC) |
| First air date | August 19, 1968 |
| Call letters' meaning | Vermont/New York |
| Sister station(s) | WFFF-TV |
| Former callsigns | WEZF-TV (1971-1982) |
| Former channel number(s) | 22 (UHF analog, 1968-2009) 55 W55AI Lake Placid, NY 60 W60AF Malone, NY 63 W63AD Rutland 66 W66AI Lyon Mountain, NY |
| Transmitter power | 10 kW |
| Height | 831 m |
| Facility ID | 11259 |
| Website | abc22.com |
WVNY is the ABC-affiliated television station for Vermont's Champlain Valley and Upstate New York's North Country. Licensed to Burlington, Vermont, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 (virtual channel 22.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter on Vermont's highest peak Mount Mansfield. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable, Charter, and Comcast channel 4. There is a high definition feed offered on Charter digital channel 704, Comcast digital channel 722, and Time Warner Cable digital channel 889.
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Owned by Lambert Broadcasting, WVNY is operated by Smith Media, LLC through a local marketing agreement (LMA). This makes it sister to Fox affiliate WFFF-TV and the two share studios on Mountain View Drive in Colchester, Vermont. Syndicated programming on this station includes The Office, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, The Dr. Oz Show, and The People's Court among others. WVNY can be seen on analog repeater W09BB channel 9 in Schroon Lake, New York. This has a transmitter southeast of the town's Severance section and does not currently have an application to air a digital signal.
Like other network stations serving Burlington and Plattsburgh, it has a large audience in Southern Quebec, Canada. This includes Montreal, a city that is ten times more populous than all of WVNY's entire American viewing area combined. On Vidéotron systems in the city, it can be seen on channel 22. It can also be seen on Illico channel 51 and in high definition on digital channel 651.
WVNY signed-on August 19, 1968 and aired an analog on UHF channel 22. It was the first station in the area to air live broadcasts in color. In 1971, it switched its call letters to WEZF-TV to match its sister FM radio station. In 1982, the calls were switched back to WVNY. The station maintained studios on Farrell Street off of Shelburne Road/US 7 in South Burlington. WVNY was the host station for the 1980 Winter Olympics and the famous Miracle on Ice ice hockey game between the United States and Soviet Union.
For many years it, had to compete against fellow ABC affiliate WMTW-TV in Portland, Maine whose transmitter on Mount Washington covered most of Vermont. That station had been the ABC affiliate of record for the market until this station signed-on and continued to be offered on many of the area's cable systems well into the 1980s. From the 1980s until 1995, WVNY dropped ABC's General Hospital in favor of cartoons and aired Boston Red Sox baseball games on Friday nights. Viewers could still see General Hospital on CFCF-TV in Montreal.
For a time, the station aired Canadian Football League football games. During the 1990s, it frequently dropped network programming in favor of infomercials. As a result, several ABC shows were never seen in Montreal. However, in the late 1990s, WVNY began airing the entire ABC schedule, of which it continues as of this day, but the only exception was from 2003-2005, when WVNY was purchased by Lambert Broadcasting as it would pre-empt Jimmy Kimmel Live for the same purpose (at first only the last half hour of the show but later the whole hour). In 2005, WVNY became sister station to WFFF after Lambert Broadcasting acquired this station and entered into a local marketing agreement with Smith Media (owner of WFFF). The company then moved WVNY into that station's Colchester facilities.
WVNY-DT on channel 13 became the first VHF high definition station in the market when it signed-on in 2006. The station became digital-only effective February 17, 2009. On the date, WVNY-DT remained on its current pre-transition channel assignment, VHF channel 13, identifying as channel 22.1 via PSIP. It has had difficulty achieving equivalent coverage with its digital signal compared to analog channel 22 raising concerns some parts of Vermont would be left without a full-power ABC affiliate. This turned out to be the case for Enosburg, Vermont in Franklin County. The channel 22 position was given to CBS affiliate WCAX-TV for its digital operation.
During the analog era and for a time after the digital transition, WVNY operated a total of five additional repeater signals. Originally, WSYR-TV in Syracuse, New York served Massena and Malone. On September 23, 1987, this was replaced by new sign-on WWTI in Watertown. However, both stations were available in Massena and Malone for a short time. Eventually, WVNY added repeater station W60AF on channel 60 in Malone. W09BB channel 9 in Schroon Lake is the only repeater remaining of the translator network to this day. Due to its low-powered status, this was exempt from switching to digital on June 12, 2009. A retransmission dispute forced Time Warner Cable systems to replace WVNY with WUTR from Utica, New York on December 16, 2010. The station returned to the lineup on January 8, 2011. [1]
Since the 1980s, WVNY has made a few attempts operating a local news department and airing newscasts but none of them ever made any headway in Nielsen ratings against WCAX and NBC affiliate WPTZ. Besides the difficulties of being the youngest network affiliate in the market, it was a UHF station in an area that is very mountainous. These stations usually do not get good reception in rugged terrain. WVNY's last and best attempt at a news department was begun in August 1999 with nightly newscasts at 6 and 11 branded as ABC 22 News.
There were also weekday morning local news and weather cut-ins at :25 and :55 past the hour during Good Morning America from 7 until 9. However, due to financial troubles and low ratings, production was shut down on September 12, 2003. This resulted in the termination of 25 news related personnel. From that point, WCAX and WPTZ operated well established news departments. WCAX has traditionally had a Vermont focus in coverage while WPTZ tends to cover more from New York State.
After WVNY moved into WFFF's studios in 2005, Smith Media made an announcement the company was planning to establish a news department for the two stations. On March 3, 2008, WFFF added a weeknight and Saturday broadcast at 7 on WVNY known as Fox 44 Local News on ABC. As a result, this station became first in the area to offer local news in the time slot. The move to launch the show was due in part to tough competition of newscasts at 6 seen on WCAX and WPTZ. As is the case on WFFF, the WVNY broadcasts are produced in high definition. The Saturday edition eventually moved to 6:30 which has been the case on Sundays from the start in order to accommodate ABC programming. The WVNY broadcasts mark the return of local news on this station since it shut down its own news department.
On August 18, 2008, WFFF began airing a two-hour weekday morning show called Fox 44 Local News This Morning. Included in the launch were local news and weather cut-ins on WVNY during its airing of Good Morning America. This occurs at :25 and :55 past the hour from 7 until 9 at which time the two stations simulcast each other. Eventually, an additional hour of the broadcast starting at 6 was added to WVNY and is known as ABC 22 This Morning. This station has since expanded the show to a traditional two hour newscast starting at 5. At some point in time, WVNY added a nightly broadcast at 11 becoming more of a big three affiliate offering local news competing with WCAX and WPTZ even though WFFF produces the broadcasts. All evening newscasts seen on this station are currently known as ABC 22 Local News.
Due to the relatively new status of the news department, there is a Vermont focus in coverage. During weather forecast segments, WFFF uses live NOAA National Weather Service radar data from three regional sites. It is presented on-screen in a system known as "Sky Tracker HD Triple Doppler". Weather forecasts from WFFF can be heard on WSNO-AM 1450, WMOO-FM 92.1/W257AU-FM 99.3, WDOT-FM 95.7, WWFY-FM 100.9, WCPV-FM 101.3, WEXP-FM 101.5/WTHK-FM 100.7/W264AB-FM 104.7, and WORK-FM 107.1.
Anchors
SkyTracker HD Meteorologists
Sports
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